Posted
by
timothy
on Friday October 17, 2008 @02:00AM
from the pretty-high-on-maslow's-hierarchy dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Flower robots are not new, and some have already been developed in the US. Now, South Korean researchers have created a robotic plant which acts like real ones. This robot has humidifying, oxygen-producing, aroma-emitting, and kinetic functions. It is about 1.30 meters tall and 40 centimeters in diameter. The robotic plant can interact with people when they approach, and it can 'dance' when music is played. The researchers don't say when a commercial version of their flowers will come to the market. They also don't mention a retail price."

You know what I hate? Those santa figures that start going "hohoho" if you go within about 30 feet of them. You know, it's a lucky thing halloween is when it is, or they'd have all the xmas tat in the stores already.

Don't you get it yet? The shopping season is all about taxes. You file your income taxes by april so the govt can count/collect it all by summer, then in winter they make up a holiday that convinces everyone to spend spend spend so they can collect tax revenues. It might be reversed for you Aussies, when do you pay taxes?

And did you notice that every store has a frickin holiday section now, it just goes xmas to valentines to easter to mothers day to dads and grads to cheap chinese summer toys to Halloween to thanksgiving and repeat.

And your last comment is the icing on the cake, the star on the xmas tree, the big box under the tree. You are actually feeling guilty for talking that way! You assume that everyone will negatively paint you a "Scrooge" if you don't participate in the scam. That's why it's such a great scam. And that is why even though people can't afford it and they really don't need it, they BUY it anyways, and the cycle continues.

Yeah, we have 2. 'Xmas in July' which is totally reserved for yuppies which you can catch in the wild in trendy places and then we have the one on the 25th of December when it's sweltering hot and most eat salads and prawns (erm shrimps - no one eats turkey by the way), while we watch the bushfires tearing through the countryside.Take your pick. And we do our taxes in July and get refunds about 2 weeks later.

You know what I hate? Those santa figures that start going "hohoho" if you go within about 30 feet of them. You know, it's a lucky thing halloween is when it is, or they'd have all the xmas tat in the stores already.

You know what I hate? Those santa figures that start going "hohoho" if you go within about 30 feet of them. You know, it's a lucky thing halloween is when it is, or they'd have all the xmas tat in the stores already.

I don't know about where you live, but in my area, the xmas crap is alongside the halloween crap.

Seriously, in the first week of October I was seeing retailers with both stuff on display. I remember when the Christmas stuff dutifully waited until after halloween -- I don't think that's the case

That might be true under other circumstances but you forget what time of year it is. With people hating voting robo-calls so much, they've developed these plants instead. They sneak into your home under the guide of being cute and fun and sort of gimmicky but when you're sitting there reading slashdot, you hear a really quiet "vote for _____" and then you look around and think "who the hell just said that?" and IT WAS THE PLANT!

Every rose has its thoorrrrrrrn!
Just like every night has its dawwwwwwn
Just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad sonnnng
Every rose has its thorrrrrn!

That would be mildly disturbing. "Evil Grows" by the Poppy Family would also be pretty twisted:

Evil grows in the dark where the sun it never shines
Evil grows in cracks and holes and lives in people's minds
Evil grew, it's part of you, and now it seems to be
That every time I look at you, evil grows in me

"American universities and Japanese manufacturers have produced toy-like robot plants, but ours has various new kinetic and electronic functions," project leader Park Jong-oh said. "It's a fresh attempt to introduce the concept of plants, rather than humans or animals, to robot making."
Seems admirable enough to me.

I can't begin to guess about all "Asians" but I can see a few reasons why the Japanese in particular have taken to this trend.

For centuries, the Japanese mind has enjoyed consistency and fine craftsmanship. Kids have to write complicated kanji characters thousands of times to develop a consistency to it. Antique dolls made of wood with tiny clockwork cams have been built that can 'walk' into a room and serve you tea, or dip a brush into ink and do fine calligraphy. Attention to detail and exacting standa

Reminds me of the new Philips Ligt Blossom [philips.com] flower (pictures [pocket-lint.co.uk]) running on sun- and windenergy. What is it that happy flowers - or actually, nature - are inspiring those designers? I think the future might be the a mixture of technology and natural looking devices.

Great, so now instead of planting flowers and trees that will form Glucose, give us Oxygen, supply all higher lifeforms and save the world every household will have a mechanical machine that will use up precious energy and resources. Sign me up!

but trees and plants can already dance! Just turn on the fan or open the window. And you can always paint your plant/tree whatever color you want (think: Christmas trees)
In fact, now that I think about it, I want to get a real plant. Maybe this robot will inspire people to go the extra step and get a real one...

On the other hand, maybe these are (or could be) solar powered - handy for areas where water is in short supply.

Shame the article doesn't actually say more about how these things work.. do they require a water supply? Where does the moisture and oxygen they supposedly produce come from?

Even if they do require water, are they more or less water efficient than real plants? For example - when you water a real plant you can expect some of that water to simply evaporate before the plant gets to use any of it.. i

Great, so now instead of planting flowers and trees that will form Glucose, give us Oxygen, supply all higher lifeforms and save the world every household will have a mechanical machine that will use up precious energy and resources. Sign me up!

They'll keep working at it until they've added all those features, and then it will be... a plant.

He has a valid point though - this to me just seems to be technology for its own sake rather than some actual practical use - even as entertainment its a gag that'll wear very thin after about 30 secs.

In the examples you give, the alternatives are actually different things that have overlapping uses. Therefore one cannot always be a substitute for the other. This device however has NO purpose other than to "emualate" a flower as accurately as possible, including "oxygen generation" and "aroma emission" (great for those allergic to pollen, not so good to those allergic to air-borne chemicals).

Don't forget those of us who kill every plant they try to bring into their house. Even house plants die at my house. I think I might be the plant Grim Reaper, but it's probably that I just don't know anything about plants (too much, or too little and/or sunlight).

Why have a living, breathing flower in a pot when you can have a pretend one that wastes so much more energy? Who wouldn't want that?

Because some of us have dogs and/or cats that love to eat a real plant. Because bugs like to lay eggs in the potting soil, and then you have bugs and a dead plant. Because flowers wilt after a few days/weeks, and then you have to wait for new blooms. Because you need to remember to water them, but not too much, because then have mold/fungus and a dead plant.
Because some of us just don't have green thumbs and want something pretty in our houses without continuing the endless cycle of slaughtering poor inno

I know how you feel. The conflation of South Korea, robots and flowers makes this a meme goldmine.

In South Korea, only old people welcome their new robotic overlords.
Where have all the robots gone? Girls have picked them every one. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
What's in a name? That which we call a robot by any other name would smell as sweet.
Take time to smell the robots.
A robot is a robot is a robot.
She loves me. BZZZZT! She loves me not. HMMMMZZZ! She loves me. ZZZZ! <p

If you really want to be anal about it, the sunlight (photon, actually, plants don't absorb all sunlight) just inputs enough energy to move an electron to a higher energy state. This electron is taken from water, and gets stored in glucose, the carbon in that glucose itself being taken from CO2.

You see, the photovoltaic cells we have today run at 10-14% efficiency. Compare that to natural photosynthesis at 2%, ergo, outside fo manufacturing we should be able to do 5x what the plant can do. Imagine a "plant" with a dehumidifier that separates the collected water into HHO2 gas (via electrolysis) you can store the Hydrogen for a lamp at night, and just release oxygen in the room. And you can still do whatever with extra electricity - LED

It behaves just like a real rock. It's really low on maintenance, is has solar cells to recharge itself, but it can last for months on a single charge. It is perfect for a hi-tech Japanese rock garden.

It behaves just like a real rock. It's really low on maintenance, is has solar cells to recharge itself, but it can last for months on a single charge. It is perfect for a hi-tech Japanese rock garden.

"The robot was developed using characteristics of plants normally grown for ornamental purposes."

And

"If a person's voice becomes louder than a certain level, the flower buds will come into bloom, and the stem shakes slightly to suggest a greeting. When the room lights up, the buds open and close, and when music is played, the plant dances."

What kind of plants do they keep around there! Do they also eat meat and sing like Levi Stubbs [imdb.com]?

Anyone else remember the Dr. Who episodes about The Autons [wikipedia.org]? Creepy creatures that were plastic and were trying to take over the Earth by running plastic injection molding companies that were actually cranking out millions of Autons and selling them as clothing store dummies, telephone cords, baby dolls, and most critically, decorative plastic flowers?Those episodes got the producers in trouble with the British Government, as I recall, because they scared kids so badly that parents were out in the streets

They're the ones that look like potted plants - but when you get close enough the flower launches off the pot and homes in on you with its rockets... And meanwhile the pot sprouts another plant. You can shoot down all the flowers you want, but to stop 'em you've got to kill the pot...